Problem forces flight to return to Naha Airport

A problem with the hydraulic system on an All Nippon Airways flight from Naha to Niigata forced the aircraft to turn back to Naha Airport on Apr. 11.

According to Osaka Civil Aviation Bureau Naha Airport Office, an alarm monitoring the hydraulic system of the aircraft went off on ANA flight 1866 with 80 passengers onboard that had taken off from Naha Airport and climbed to an altitude of 7,000 meters about 100 kilometers from the airport at 3:10 p.m. on April 11th. The aircraft turned back and landed at 3:54 p.m. without an incident.

An inspection found the hydraulic oil level in one of three hydraulic systems on the aircraft was low, and the maintenance crew checked for a leakage but found none. The runway at the airport was temporarily closed for about four minutes due to the inspection.

Nine flights boarding at the time at the airport were delayed an average 16 minutes, and 11 flights scheduled for landing were delayed an average of 35 minutes. The longest delay was 63 minutes.